St. Louis' coach Cal Lee offered UH football job

By Stephen Tsai
and Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Writers

Cal Lee, who announced he is stepping down as St. Louis School's head football coach at the end of the coming season, has been told he will be offered a role on next year's University of Hawai'i coaching staff.

St. Louis coach Cal Lee, speaks to the media during a press conference yesterday announcing his retirement at the end of this season. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

An opening will be created with the expected departure of special teams coach Dennis McKnight, who has told colleagues he will not return to UH in the fall.

If McKnight makes his decision official, UH coach June Jones has said, the position will be left vacant this season.

During a meeting Friday afternoon, The Advertiser learned Jones offered a defensive-coaching job to Lee, who has led the Crusaders to 15 official or unofficial state titles in the past 18 years and a No. 2 national ranking in 1998.

But after a short discussion with his wife, Val, Lee turned down the offer, citing an obligation to this year's St. Louis players.

Later, Jones offered Lee a role on next year's coaching staff.

Jones declined to expand "on what we talked about," but said, "I think the world of him."

Lee acknowledged that he was told he will be considered for a coaching vacancy at UH next year, and that he considered it "a possibility."

"I could live with coaching at UH," Lee said, smiling. "UH would be (perfect). But everything has to be right. Who is the head coach? Who are the assistants? I'm not a youngster anymore just trying to get my foot in the door."

Lee, who has no intention to stop coaching, also expressed a desire to again work alongside his brother, Ron, now a UH assistant coach. Cal Lee served as his brother's top assistant at Kaiser High in the late 1970s until 1980, and the roles were reversed for more than 15 years at St. Louis before Ron Lee accepted the UH job in December 1998.

Yesterday, Cal Lee referred to his brother as "my security blanket."

Lee, who served as an assistant at Willamette University in the 1970s, said he would like to coach on the college level again. He also said he has no objections to serving as an assistant coach.

"It wouldn't bother me," he said. "I never really wanted to be a head coach. I enjoyed being an assistant for Ron."

Because he does not want to move to the Mainland, coaching at UH, he said, "would be a nice fit."

Still, he insisted, he is not announcing his resignation now as a precursor to accepting a job at UH. "Next year is next year," he said.

Lee, 54, said he will resign at the end of this season, his 21st in a career that has seen unprecedented success in Hawai'i and earned national acclaim.

Under Lee, St. Louis has won 17 Interscholastic League of Honolulu titles, including the past 15.

His record is 231-31-4 (87.6 winning percentage), and his team won 55 games in a row from 1985-90.

Lee's players were saddened by the announcement.

"At first, it caught me by surprise; but it's been a rumor for awhile," said Bobby George Jr., the team's returning starting quarterback. "I don't think anyone wants to see him go, but ... we have to come together as a team and work harder."

Lee said he had been thinking about when he should quit for a long time, "even in 1990, when my son (Jon) graduated, it seemed like a good time. ... Every year it's a question."

Now, he said, it seems like "it's the right time."

"When you think about something so long, you feel a lot better when you finally make the decision," he said.

Lee's teams have become so dominant that it led to changes in the ILH. Last month, the 92-year-old league adopted a form of classification for the first time.

Damien Memorial School's decision to forfeit its football games against St. Louis, because of concern for the safety of its players, contributed to the restructuring.

Damien, which has not beaten St. Louis since 1982, lost games to St. Louis the past three seasons by scores of 84-0, 82-0 and 83-0. In last season's 84-0 game, St. Louis led 77-0 at halftime.

Earlier, the league imposed a 65-player roster limit for games (St. Louis had 113 players on its roster last season) and implemented a running clock when a team is ahead by 35 or more points in the second half.

Did changes by ILH in the past years have anything to do with Lee's decision?

"Inside me, it's part of the reason," said offensive coordinator Vince Passas, who has been coaching with Lee since 1977. "I could see some type of frustration."

You can reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com. You can reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com.